BP Plc has reached an agreement with businesses and individuals suing over the 2010 Gulf of Mexico oil spill.
BP announced the deal yesterday with the Plaintiffs' Steering Committee (PSC), which represents condominium owners, fishermen, hoteliers, restaurateurs and others who say their livelihoods were damaged by the 20 April explosion of the Deepwater Horizon drilling rig and subsequent oil spill.
The settlement, which delayed a trial that had been set to get under way in a New Orleans federal court on
Monday, is a step by BP toward resolving its liability in the case, which stretches into the billions of dollars.
However, the deal does nothing to settle charges brought by the US government.
Eleven people died and 4.9m barrels of oil spewed from the Macondo oil well in one of the worst offshore US oil spills.
US District Judge Carl Barbier delayed the trial, saying the settlement "would likely result in a realignment of the parties in this litigation and require substantial changes" to the trial plan.
Judge Barbier, who will preside over the three-part trial which could stretch through 2012, set no definite date for the trial to resume.
He would also have to approve the settlement.
